Courtesy photoMelissa Cotton is Elle Woods and Algernon Edlund is Bruiser Woods in the Barn Theatre's production of 'Legally Blonde The Musical,' which will run July 3-15.

AUGUSTA, MI -- To be blonde -- it is a more complex state of being than
some would think.

Culture tries to
put the American blonde female in her girly, perky role. But, though the
subject of "Legally Blonde the Musical" does dress in pink, carry a
little dog with her everywhere and squeal songs like "Omigod You
Guys!," she fights the stereotype in her own way.

"It can be
accessible to more than just teenage girls, which is a lot of people's
impression of it because it is so pink," director Hans Friedrichs said.

Friedrichs saw
it on Broadway, and liked it, but he didn't see the depth of the show until he
started working on it for the Barn.

"I was
surprised to find there was a lot more depth than I thought there was to it.
Not something that you normally equate with 'Legally Blonde,' but it's
extraordinarily well-written, it's well-constructed."

It follows the
plot of the 2001 Reese Witherspoon film. Titular blonde Elle (third year
apprentice Melissa Cotton) leaves her sorority to chase an ex-boyfriend (Jamey
Grisham) to Harvard. There she learns law and works to be a serious woman
"who wears black when nobody's dead," she says in the show.

Because the
story is about "not only self-discovery but self-validation, it is
actually quite moving to me," Friedrichs said. "It's oddly feminist
in a way."

"It's a
gigantic show in a lot of ways," he said, with "a lot of people, a
lot of non-stop music."

It has a cast of
nearly 30. "It's a big cast, and that's not counting the two dogs."

The lead dog is
Algernon Edlund, who made his stage debut in "Pal Joey" in June. His
new role of Bruiser, the little dog Elle has with her much of the time, is a
much bigger part.

Courtesy photoMelissa Cotton is Elle Woods in the Barn Theatre's production of 'Legally Blonde The Musical.' Cotton's goal is to "show the audience just how smart Elle is."

They'll also
have local boxer Pudge Doorlag in the role of Rufus. Friedrichs is following
advice he got from Broadway dog trainer Bill Berloni long ago. Canine stage
work is all about keeping the dog calm, knowing what dogs react to, and
establishing "a sequence of events that a dog gets used to,"
Friedrichs said.

"Me and
Alge go way back," Cotton said of her doggie co-star. "We spend every
day playing house, a little bit. We have bonding time. ... He has a whole lot of
personality, that little dog. He's very human-like."

She also spends
time with Patric Hunter, who plays love interest Emmett, and is her fiancé.
They both live in New York City, but love coming to the Barn every summer, she
said.

A brunette, Cotton
is in the process of learning what it means to be blonde. "I am actually
going to get my hair done today," she said.

As far as
playing "blonde" goes, "I try not to play into it too much. The
writing is incredible. It's done in such a way that you don't have to play
anything," she said. "The writing does it for you. The writing is
every stereotypical valley girl phrase you can think of."

Cotton's goal is
to "show the audience just how smart Elle is. She's so much more than just
her hair," she said. "It's rather empowering to play her,
actually."